The road to Capitol Reef

 Highway 95 to Capitol Reef follows White Canyon most of the way and the scenery along the highway is just as colorful and picturesque as any of the parks we’ve visited. The cliffs on both sides of the road are a continuation of the same sandstone we saw in Natural Bridges, carved into fantastic shapes, with interesting names like “The Cheesebox” and “Jacobs Chair”.

North of the official park boundary the white sandstone gradually gives way to the red layer. With twists and turns in the layers, shaped by erosion, there are formations that look like over-sized dollops of pink and white whipped cream. For several miles the two colors are both evident, along with a striking blue/green layer that is such a contrast to the red that it seems much brighter than it would otherwise. There are views of the upper reaches of Lake Powell too, and all that water is a refreshing site after dry camping for so many days.

 We listened to a Navajo radio station most of the way – interesting to hear the mixture of Navajo and English words in the weather reports and upcoming events. Apparently there are no Navajo terms for “bull riding” and other rodeo events. We tried to piece in around the words we recognized and come up with a pretty interesting news report!

Flash floods are no joke this time of year, and we saw several signs along the route warning of the hazard, and cautioning travelers not to stop at the bottom of a wash. The highway had evidence of very recent flash flooding where debris had already been removed from the road, but the creek bed was still damp, showing how high the waters had risen.

Factory Butte

Nearing Hanksville the scene changes from blazing red rock to gray talcum powder. Buttes and mesas of pale yellow sandstone sit atop gray and black alluvial drifts – such a contrast to the scene just a few miles back. Factory Butte Special Recreation Management Area (BLM) looks like a great place to explore the back country and enjoy the view.

A little further on,  soft material in this area has eroded into peaks that look like meringue, with occasional splashes of rust, blue and purple. Think sifting piles of talcum powder and campfire ashes. In some areas the color pallet shifts to soft pinks, eroded to rounded domes. After ooh and ahhing our way around every corner we saw a sign “scenic views next 14 miles”. . . ‘wonder what that was we’d been looking at?